CHAPTER 1 Introduction
4.2 The survey
4.2.3 Description of relevant variables and justification for their inclusion
4.2.3.4 Variables in the subjective domain
Income (X13) Rs. 15000 and above=5, Rs.10001 to 15000=4, Rs.5001 – 10000=3, Rs.2001- 5000=2, Rs.2000 or less=1
Additional source of income (X14)
Permanent asset=5, part time job=4, side business=3, others=2, no additional income=1
Saving habit (X15) Bank deposit as well as insurance=5, bank deposit=4, insurance policy=3, savings in society=2 and no saving =1
Use of credit (X16) Does not use credit =5, loans for consumer durable=4, housing loan=3, loan for medical treatment=2 and others=1
Feelings of income security (X17)
Permanent asset=5, past saving=4, helps from relatives=3, borrowing=2 and no income security=1
Economic environment
Use of consumer durables (X18)
Items: Refrigerator/ TV/ Phone/ Water filter (general/ aqua guard)/ LPG / air conditioner / internet /news paper
All=5, any six=4, four to five items=3 ,one to three items=2, nothing=1 Health problems (X19) Never visited doctor in the last 3 months=5, once or twice in the last 3
months=4, once a month=3, twice a month=2 and more than two times a month=1
Interaction with
neighbourhoods (X20)
Interaction with almost all families in the locality=5, interaction with 5-10 families=4, interaction with 3-4 families=3, interaction with hardly 1-2 families=2, no interaction at all=1
Involvement with the local society (X21)
Club and social activities=5, social service only=4, only club=3, cultural event=2, no involvement at all=1
Sense of security at home (X22)
No insecurity=5, theft=4, threat=3, robbery=2 and others=1
Visit to police station (X23) Never visited police station=5, problem was solved by police=4, FIR lodged but nothing was done=3, ignored by police=2, complain against family=1 Availability of open space
(X24)
Park=5, playground=4, public open space=3, private open space=2 and no open space=1
Availability of shops in the locality (X25)
Grocery shop, vegetable market ,stationary and bakery, medical establishment, no shops
All kinds of shop=5, any four kinds of shops=4, any three kinds of shop=3, any two types of shop=2 and no shop=1
Leisure activity (X26) Go to park/visit people=5, go to sports/club/cinema/theater=4, gardening=3, watch/TV/radio/music=2, nothing specific /just stay at home=1
Mode of travel (X27) Own vehicle=5, walk=4, public transport at 5 minutes interval=3, public transport at 5-10 minutes gap=2, more than 10 minutes=1
Social environment
Efficiency of transport system (X28)
Reach destination on time=5, delay on your own part=4, can not board bus for heavy rush=3, inefficiency of public transport=2 and traffic jam=1
Source: Field work
the quantitative responses are rated as follows: (a) not at all satisfied, (b) not very satisfied, (c) satisfied, (d) very satisfied and (e) completely satisfied. This scale is restructured for the present study as follows: very satisfied, satisfied, neutral, dissatisfied, very dissatisfied. The response ‘very satisfied’ has been rated as 5, ‘satisfied’ as 4,
‘neutral’ as 3, ‘dissatisfied’ as 2 and ‘very dissatisfied’ as 1 (Beukes et al., 1997 and Sirgy, 2008). From the literature review it has been found that there are various means to assess subjective evaluation of QOL such as happiness, gladness, satisfaction and so on.
But out of all these, satisfaction has been found to be more stable instrument of subjective evaluation of QOL (Crooker et al., 1998 and Wen-Tsou, 2001). Accordingly, level of satisfaction from living environment has been taken as a measure of subjective evaluation of QOL in the present study.
After asking the questions on objective dimension, respondents have been asked about their opinion on overall QOL. The specific question posed to them is “What do you feel about your overall quality of life?” The responses were captured in a five point Likert scale as mentioned above. Then a series of questions have been asked to assess the level of satisfaction with condition of housing, availability of parks and green areas, economic condition, cost of living, sense of personal security, health facilities, traffic, and welfare services rendered by local administration. Then the same question on overall QOL has been repeated, “What do you feel about your overall quality of life?” The second response has been assumed to be a more intuitive one, as the responses would be a more well-thought and rational one as it would be somewhat influenced by preceding questions on the respondent's level of satisfaction towards various aspects of life (Seik, 2000). The first question about overall QOL has been coded as QOL_1 and when the same question is repeated again, the response has been coded as QOL_2. The variables used to measure subjective QOL are shown in Table 4.3.
Table 4.3: List of variables included in subjective dimension
Domain Questions and level of satisfaction
Overall quality of life(QOL_1)
What do you feel about your overall quality of life (X29): Very satisfied=5, satisfied=4, neutral=3, dissatisfied=2, very dissatisfied=1 Satisfaction from condition of housing (X30): Very satisfied=5, satisfied=4, neutral=3, dissatisfied=2, very dissatisfied=1
Physical
environment Satisfaction from availability Parks and Green areas (X31): Very satisfied=5, satisfied=4, neutral=3, dissatisfied=2, very dissatisfied=1
Economic environment
Satisfaction from one’s own economic condition (X32): Very satisfied=5, satisfied=4, neutral=3, dissatisfied=2, very dissatisfied=1 Satisfaction from cost of living (X33): Very satisfied=5, satisfied=4, neutral=3, dissatisfied=2, very dissatisfied=1
Satisfaction from sense of personal security (X34): Very satisfied=5, satisfied=4, neutral=3, dissatisfied=2, very dissatisfied=1
Satisfaction from health facilities (X35): Very satisfied=5, satisfied=4, neutral=3, dissatisfied=2, very dissatisfied=1
Social environment
Satisfaction from condition of traffic (X36): Very satisfied=5, satisfied=4, neutral=3, dissatisfied=2, very dissatisfied=1
Satisfaction from local administration (X37): Very satisfied=5, satisfied=4, neutral=3, dissatisfied=2, very dissatisfied=1
Overall quality of life(QOL_2)
What do you feel about your overall quality of life (X38): Very satisfied=5, satisfied=4, neutral=3, dissatisfied=2, very dissatisfied=1
Source: Field work
In order to examine the consistency in the responses to this question the internal consistency of the instrument has been computed by applying Cronbach’s alpha method.
Using Cronbach’s alpha, the internal scale reliability of the items have been found to be as high as 0.87. After this some descriptive statistics have been provided below for the relevant variables.